Palliative Care in a Public Health Crisis
For many years now, there has been discussion about the role of public health approach to palliative care, recognising that death, dying and bereavement are wider societal issues and not just about health care. The COVID-19 pandemic threw palliative care into the centre stage of public health – with palliative care playing a key role alongside critical care, and respiratory and emergency services. In some countries such as the UK, this was a fully acknowledged and appreciated role. But it also put a demand on palliative care services which had consequences for patients who had palliative care needs not directly related to COVID-19. In other countries, the public health emergency marginalised palliative care patients and services altogether.
What can we learn – are still learning – from this experience so far? What are the wider implications for palliative care policy and practice, including for future pandemics? This lecture will draw on my experience from the UK primarily but it will lead to a discussion and learning from your experience in Malaysia and the region.
Speaker’s Biography
Professor Bee Wee is National Clinical Director for End of Life Care at NHS England and NHS Improvement in the UK. In this role, she provides strategic leadership for palliative and end of life care across England. She co-chairs the Ambitions Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care which has 34 national partners across health, social care and voluntary sector. She was awarded the Presidential Medal by the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare for academic, policy and clinical contributions to person centred healthcare in 2017, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Oxford Brookes University in 2018, and a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2020 for services to palliative and end of life care.
Originally from Penang, Malaysia, she trained in medicine, then general practice, in Ireland, and worked in Hong Kong, then in Southampton as Consultant/Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine and Deputy Director of Southampton Medical School, before moving to Oxford in 2003 as Consultant in Palliative Medicine, where her clinical and academic base remains. She has just completed a three year term as Head of Department for the Oxford Palliative Care service which she led throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She is Associate Professor at Oxford University, Honorary Professor at Sichuan University, China, Trustee of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, and a Governor at Christ Hospital. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, eating and allotment gardening with her husband, Richard.
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